Ilkay Gundogan: Pep Guardiola will bring success to Manchester City

Ilkay Gundogan is convinced Pep Guardiola will be a success at Manchester City

Guardiola has faced fierce criticism following a disappointing first season at the Etihad.

The Spaniard was expected to sweep all before him after winning his first 10 games of the campaign.

But it all fell apart as Guardiola ended up finishing a season without a single trophy for the first time in his managerial career.

Guardiola has spent over £200m on new signings this summer and the pressure on him to deliver trophies is immense.

But German star Gundogan is convinced Guardiola will get things right.

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“We controlled a lot of games last season in the Premier League, maybe 95 per cent of all the games”

Man City ace Ilkay Gundogan

He said: "Honestly, we suffered with it last season because everything was new for Pep, for the new players like me, maybe for the others as well to understand the idea of Pep's style.

"The adaptation doesn't come in a few weeks or just in one moment, but I think that the dominant football that we are playing is the right way.

"We controlled a lot of games last season in the Premier League, maybe 95 per cent of all the games we played.

"It felt a little bit unfair sometimes, to play the game for 90 minutes, to put a lot of effort into the game, to create chances, to play really well.

"So we always had the feeling after the game that we did the right thing. And at the end, there was just a lack of concentration for a moment, one individual mistake, and that's why we lost sometimes two points, sometimes even three points."

Gundogan admits Guardiola's defence has to improve if City are to challenge for the big prizes.

He added: "Obviously we conceded too many goals last season, too many easy goals especially by doing individual mistakes.

"I can remember a few games, especially at home at the Etihad Stadium, where we just dropped points unnecessarily.

"We definitely need to focus on that over the next weeks and when the season starts especially, but we are working on it and I am pretty sure that we are going to be better next season.

"If we score the same amount of goals that we scored last season, or even more, then I think that’s it’s going to be a great season for us."